Very Important Read

11 Jun, 2023 20:22

1/3 or 4

Ukraine's propaganda machine is vital for Zelensky: Here is how it works

Kiev is waging an extensive information war against Russia and it began long before the military conflict

The Russia-Ukraine conflict isn’t just about the clash of armed forces on the battlefield. It has also been marked byunprecedented levels of confrontation in the fields of information and psychology, cognition and semantics.

Kiev has arguably achieved more success on the information front, than on the ground. There the “fighters” aren’t just journalists and information and psychological warfare specialists, but content makers and PR experts.Influencing the psyche, mindset, and emotions of ordinary people has become a big deal, as shaping Western public opinionis vital for President Vladimir Zelensky's regime.

The symbols of war

Anyone familiar with advertising and PR knows thattying an product to a colorful, memorable symbol, or slogan, will boost its popularity, especially in this era of short attention spans. During wartime, the same strategy works just as well with the news as with advertising and election campaigns.

In the current conflict, Ukraine has becomevery good at creating symbols. Media outlets instantly take up any popular symbol and make use of it in order to influence the mindset of ordinary Ukrainians.

Here’s a recent example. In May, despite the very difficult situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and statements from several commentators – particularly the former Zelensky adviser Alexey Arestovich – that the army could soon retreat (as it eventually did), Ukrainian society wasn’t at all worried and had complete faith in the AFU’s ability to retain control over the city.

In fact, public attitudes towards the battle were largely shaped by the media. For example, at the beginning of the year therock band “Antytila” (“Antibodies”) released a videofor the song ‘Bakhmut Fortress.’ A few months later, itbecame viral. Ukrainians have since posted countless self-made versions of the video on social networks, affirming the myth of the impenetrable fortress of Bakhmut.

Suchsymbolsare created not only during ongoing battles,but also in the aftermath of the AFU’s obvious failures. For example, at the end of February, the Artemsol salt production enterprise announced that before the start of active battles for Soledar (which ended in January with the victory of the Russian Army), it collected 20 tons of salt from the mines. The salt was packed into 100,000 packages bearing thesymbolic inscription “Ukrainian Rock-Solid Strength.” Each package was sold for 500 hryvnia (about $13.50). According to the organizers of the fundraiser, mostproceeds were spent on kamikaze dronesfor the AFU.

Symbolic campaigns like these occur regularlyin Ukraine and are designed to encourage the population. In November of last year, when Russian troops withdrew from the west bank of the Kherson region and the AFU entered the eponymous regional capital, a national social media campaign urged users to place images of watermelons (the area grows them) on their profile pictures.

Kherson has been known for many things in its history – such as shipbuilding in the times of the Russian Empire and the USSR. However, for some reason, Ukraine’s propaganda decided to associate it solely with watermelons, and the imagery was well-received by society. In a state ofvictorious euphoria, people forgotabout the regular blackouts and ongoing fighting in the region.

Thedetection dog Patron [Ukrainian for “cartridge”]became another famous Ukrainian symbol. It helped Chernigov engineers clear the territories of mines. In addition to media exposure, Patron was even granted a meeting with Zelensky. Posters with a picture of the dog explained how to act if you detect an explosive object and can still be seen around Kiev and other cities. Atoy version of Patron even appeared on the shelves of children's stores, along with miniature models of [Soviet-designed] Mriya aircraft, [Turkish] Bayraktar drones, and [American] HIMARS vehicles.

Postage stamps– issued by Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s state postal service – have become another tool. While Zelensky claims that Ukraine was not involved in =last month's drone attack on the Kremlin==, Ukraine decided to issue a stamp showing this very attack. The head of Ukrposhta, Igor Smelyansky, commented that new stamps are often a forerunner of “positive events.”…

https://www.rt.com/russia/577774-kievs-propaganda-machine-how-it-works/

>>18993166

2/3

Ukraine's propaganda machine is vital for Zelensky: Here is how it works

In more than a year of hostilities,Kiev’s use of symbols and memes to raise or maintain morale and help control the narrativehas been streamlined to a surprising extent. Google’s ranking of top Ukrainian search queries in 2022 is more proof. For example, in the “person” category, Ukrainians most often Googled “Alexey Arestovich” and showed interest in the“ghost of Kiev,”a legend of a supposed hero pilot which The Wall Street Journal admitted wasfake military propagandaintended to raise morale. In the “purchase of the year” category, the postage stamp “Russian Ship” was among the most popular search queries. This was a stamp issued in honor of thesoldiers on Snake Island who, as the fake story went, responded in abusive language to an offer from a Russian ship’s crew to surrender and fought to the death. These border guards were “posthumously” awarded the Hero of Ukraine decoration but later it was revealed that all of them had voluntarily surrendered and were alive.

Thetriumph of these symbols, which have endured long after being confirmed as fake, is a result of theinformation bubblein which Ukrainian society and much of the West has found itself. In the past year and a half since opposition media was blocked, government-controlled outlets are often the only source of information for Ukrainians.

The invisible front

“Today,information warfare is the core structureof any war. It is very important to have influence over a society that is involved in combat. Moreover, it is essential to convince the world community of the rightness of our actions in order to receive further support. Not only authorized persons can take part in this information war, but also regular citizens who ‘fight’ at their own discretion,” Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliar said in February.

Information and Psychological Operations(IPsO) are intended to brainwash peopleand shape public opinion, and they are among Kiev’s most important strategies in the conflict with Russia. In combat conditions, these operations are primarilyaimed at demoralizing and disorganizing the enemy'sfront and rear and inspiring a hopeless, doomed atmosphere. Usually, their main task is to discredit the military and political command and highlight defeat and failure.

In December 2019, a network ofIPsO centerswith access tointernal and external mass media and internet resourceswas deployed in Ukraine. In the AFU, information and psychological operations fall under the jurisdiction of Special Operations Forces. This means that their work and personnel are kept top secret. However,some information has recently been revealed.

At the state level, the coordination and general management of cybersecurity and information operations is carried out by theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC). The National Cybersecurity Coordination Center of Ukraine was establishedin June 2016 as a working body of the NSDC. The outfit includes the heads of ten government departments, such as the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and the Main Directorate of Intelligence.

Cyber operations and information campaigns are directly implemented by the special IPsO centers which are part of the Special Operations Forces of the AFU.Currently, there are four such centers: the 16th center (military unit A1182, Guiva, Zhytomyr Region), the 72nd center (military unit A4398, Brovary, Kiev Region), the 74th center (military unit A1277, Lviv), and the 83rd center (military unit A2455, Odessa). (Russia is letting Ukraine know that they know where these centers are and they are now targets!)

In addition to counterintelligence activities, they organizepropaganda campaignson the internet and television, create and publish fake information, and, together with the SBU, coordinate the activities ofhacker groups, volunteer information communities, and other internet resources. Before active hostilities, the centers were estimated to employ around 500-550 people, while some sources claim they had over 1,000.

These units act independently and collaborate with similar foreign structures. Foreign centers and information troops give them access to large commercial resources.Activists and celebritiesare also involved in the process. “Since February 24, we have all become soldiers on the information front,” said Vadim Miskyi, Program Director of Detector Media.

TheUkrainian Cyber Alliancehas also operated in the country since 2016. This is a community ofcyberactivistsfrom different Ukrainian cities and from abroad. The community conducts cyberattacks, and hacks web pages and emails….

https://www.rt.com/russia/577774-kievs-propaganda-machine-how-it-works/

>>18993176

Ukraine's propaganda machine is vital for Zelensky: Here is how it works

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In February 2020, the special Command of the Communications and Cyber Security Forces was formed as part of the ongoing reform and structural reorganization of the AFU to match NATO standards. The plan was to create unitsidentical to NATO’s cyber centers. Specialized centers also exist in other Ukrainian state departments including the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the State Cyber Protection Center.

As part of Ukraine's integration into NATO structures, special unit instructors from the United States and other Western countries are involved in the training of IPsO center personnel. In particular, these arespecialists from the US Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group (formerly called the 4th Military Information Support Group) and the UK’s 77th Brigade– a special unit of information, psychological, and cyber operations of the Armed Forces of Great Britain. IPsO specialists also undergo regular training at US military bases.

Disinformation and propaganda

In addition to official media outlets, Ukraine’s Information and Psychological Operations Centers rely on several thousand internet resources including information and news sites, social networks, and coordinated social media groups.

Even before the start of Russia’s military campaign, certain Ukrainian volunteer internet information resources were controlled by IPsO centers. This included the volunteer communitiesInformNapalm, (informnapalm.org ), Peacemaker (psb4ukr.org ), Information Resistance (sprotyv.info ), as well as commercial sites (seebreeze.org.ua, petrimazepa.com, podvodka.info, metelyk.org, mfaua.org, burkonews.info, euromaidanpress.com , peopleproject.com and others)used for information campaigns and testing “social engineering” technologies. In particular, it was noted that IPsO officers often operated under the guise of “volunteers” and pseudo-bloggers.

Ukrainian officers, soldiers, and volunteers are taught the art of information and psychological operations based on leading world standards. In an interview, Arestovich quoted US textbooks on information warfare. “Do you know how information and psychological combat works? The first page of the US textbook on information and psychological warfare, the first chapter, says – I quote: themain taskof information and psychological operations is totake over the agenda. That's it, after that you can just relax and do nothing.”

Ukraine uses various tools – including websites, social networks, and bots – to spread disinformation. In April, hackers from RaHDit and other groups revealed Ukrainian Telegram channels presumably supervised by the SBU, which posed as pro-Russian. An entire network of such channels, with an audience of 5-6 million people, was discovered during the investigation. The list includes channels Operation Z, Novorossiya 2.0, and many others.

Hackers note that most of these channels previously had radically different content before they were taken over. They also hosted fake fundraisers for the needs of the Russian Armed Forces. Most of the administrators were Ukrainian citizens and one of thekey players was Luka Ilchuk, who is responsible for many of the fake channels.

How did these channels work? Quite simply: thepseudo-patriotic channelspublished ordinary news posts, were gradually promoted to reach a bigger audience, and then the Ukrainians threw in their own narrative between the lines. For example, there was a story about an investigation concerning PMC Wagner fighters who allegedly shot large numbers of civilians in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut). In other words, the channels were designed to sow panic, create outrage, and spread disinformation.

***

Psychological warfare expert Paul Linebarger believed that war always begins long before the start of combat and continues for some time after it ceases. Unlike traditional warfare, where the battle is between two armies, psychological warfare is waged against millions of civilians who have little ability to fight back.

Today, the information war is indeed one of the major factors influencing the overall conflict and the situation at the front line. Modern battles are won not only with weapons, but with public support. Kiev understands this well. After all, much depends on how this conflict is perceived inside and outside Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/russia/577774-kievs-propaganda-machine-how-it-works/

12 Jun, 2023 15:09

Major Ukrainian city issues water warning

Most of Krivoy Rog could run out of water due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, the local mayor has said

The southern Ukrainian city ofKrivoy Rog could soon face a severe water shortage due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, unless residents significantly restrict their consumption, local mayor Aleksandr Vilkul warned on Sunday.

In a statement on Telegram, Vilkul described last week’s dam breach, which resulted inhuge swaths of land being floodedon both banks of the Dnieper River, as the “largest man-made disaster of its kind.” He said that the incident meant that thecity’s southern water reservoir, a key source for about 70% of its population, was no longer being replenished.

Vilkul noted that the local authorities had been preparing for this contingency for over a year by filling the city’s reservoirs to their maximum capacity. However, the mayor said that even those preparationscould not offset the impact from the disaster, and urged all residents to reduce water consumption by 40%.

“This is the case when it is really up to you how the situation will evolve. The first option –we do not save, and 70% of the city remains without water in a month. The second option is to save [water] and win time to carry out the necessary work,” he said.

Vilkul added that if water consumption is reduced, the city will begin to experience a deficit in a month and a half.

The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region was breached last Tuesday, resulting in at least five people being killed and dozens injured, and triggering mass evacuation efforts across the entire region. Since then, Moscow and Kiev have traded accusations over who was to blame for the incident.

Novaya Kakhovka is situated on the left shore of the river and is controlled by Russia, while Ukraine holds the opposite side of the region. Ukrainian officials also reported that there were fatalities after the flooding on the right shore.

Commenting on Wednesday on the destruction of the dam, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine and its Western backers of gambling on a path of dangerous escalation. The Russian leader characterized the incident as a “barbaric act.”

Ukraine has insisted that its forces could not have blown up the structure as the power plant was being held by the Russian military. Officials in Kiev have also claimed that none of the missiles at their disposal could have caused so much damage, particularly given that the Soviet-era dam was designed to withstand a nuclear strike.

https://www.rt.com/russia/577906-ukraine-city-water-warning/

12 Jun, 2023 15:24

A third of German men accept violence against women – poll

Recent data shows that on average a woman is abused by her partner every 13 minutes in the EU country

A gender equality group in Germany has described as “shocking” the results of a recent poll which found that one-third of men in that country consider it “acceptable” to physically strike a female partner during a heated argument.

A nationwidesurvey of 1,000 men and 1,000 womenin the EU country, published last week by children’s charity Plan International Germany, showed that33% of men aged between 18 and 35 see no issuewith using violence during a confrontation with a woman. A further34% of respondents admitted to having been violenttowards a woman in the past.

Karsten Kassner, a gender-equality advocate with the group Federal Forum Men, said that the results of the survey are “shocking” and suggested that it shows thatviolence by young men towards women is being normalized.

“It’s problematic that a third of the surveyed men trivialize violence against women,”Kassner said to Germany’s Funke newspaper. “This urgently needs to change.”

Statistics compiled by the German federal police in 2021 show thatmore than 115,000 women were victims of domestic violenceor spousal abuse that year – an average of 13 women abused every hour. That same year, 301 women were killed by their current or former partner.

Separately, the poll also revealed Germany’s adherence towards more-traditional gender roles, as well as adistasteamong nearly half of respondents towardspublic displays of affectionbetween same-sex couples.

52% of men, the poll suggested, believe it to be their role to be the main ‘bread-winner’ in a relationship. By comparison, the same number considered it to be the female’s job to run the household by performing tasks such as cooking and cleaning.

48% of those polledalso said theyfelt “disturbed” by witnessing homosexual couplesbeing affectionate towards one another in public. The results of the survey, a Plan International Germany spokesperson said in a statement, says that “traditional gender roles are still deeply ingrained in people’s minds” in the EU country.

https://www.rt.com/news/577907-germany-domestic-violence-poll/

42 minutes ago

Jack Posobiec On Latest Developments In Ukraine

minutes 14:02

Ukraine is losing, Bradley vehicles 15-+ destroyed

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r5bwa/?pub=4

>>18993366

Russians are destroying all their equipment, Ukraine is trying to this without any air superiority and Ukraine doesn’t know what they are doing.

>>18993380

Shut up and listen to the info or scroll on by

>>18993366

They say it takes 18 months to capably learn how to drive any of these foreign tanks, Ukraine has none of this training. When we saw all those tanks being blown up, and an anon pointed out the Ukraine driven tank just went out without coverage and ran over mines and got blown up by Russia, four tanks in a couple of minutes

Told you Barr and treason

1 hour ago

Bannon & Giuliani Blast Bill Barr For ‘Treason.’. Totally ignored the laptop from hell when given in 2019

4:13 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r583e/?pub=4

1 hour ago

BREAKING: Garret Ziegler Reveals Identity Of Second IRS Whistleblower On Biden Family Corruption

2:31 minutes

Joseph Ziegler (no relationship) is second IRS coming forward now with Shapley

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r57gg/?pub=4

Newt Gingrich coming out to show his true opinion, cutting out the cancer of FBI with fundamental reforms on the Agencies

1 hour ago

Newt Gingrich On The Path Forward For Trump & MAGA Base

10:49 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r51l2/?pub=4

>>18993500

This is a struggle for the very life of freedom

>>18993500

2 hours ago

Newt Gingrich: We Need To Break Up The FBI And Remove Entire Senior Leadership

4:25 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r4z6y/?pub=4

>>18993537

Newt Gingrich: No Candidate Besides Trump Could Withstand Deep State

2:42 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r4yre/?pub=4

>>18993560

This is great, Trump has taken this beating for 7 year,Gingrich knows no other candidate to take this on and is still willing to defend the American people

Rudy Giuliani Walks Through The Evidence - Including Burisma Whistleblowers - He Presented To FBI & US Attys of Pittsburg in Jan 2020 because Barr told them to do it. The US Attys were very interested in it

5:05 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r57qk/?pub=4

Joe Allen On Unabomber Death. The most perceptive prophet of our times on technology

7:45 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r5kx8/?pub=4

Kek

What’s his roll?

He’s Albert Einstein!

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1668013122567786501?s=20

Probably not kidding.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1667999474684399616?s=20

I thought the same thing if D’Antouno, why is he admitting the Mar A Largo raid was wrong?

https://twitter.com/yochibo007/status/1667812754617692161?s=20

https://twitter.com/yochibo007/status/1667812754617692161?s=20

>>18993707

https://twitter.com/JeffClarkUS/status/1667860049710968834?s=20

1 hour ago

Kari Lake Explains Why She'll Be In Miami For Trump's Arraignment

7:49 minutes

https://rumble.com/embed/v2r5ma6/?pub=4

>>18993723

The song,81 million votes, my asssong is 4th on Apple and other apps and it’s going to #1==

https://twitter.com/DarrenJBeattie/status/1667249724674527240?s=20

(Does that rat have nail polish on?)

12 Jun, 2023 17:31

Parisians must coexist with rats – mayor

Around six million of the rodents are estimated to live in the City of Light

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to form a committee to explore whether citizens in the French capital should learn to live alongside rats in peaceful coexistence rather than attempt to exterminate the vermin, a city official said last week.

“With guidance from the mayor,we have decided to form a committee on the question of cohabitation,” Anne Souyris, Paris’ deputy mayor for public health, said at a meeting of the Council of Paris on Thursday.

The newly announced policy represents a significant departure from previous measures implemented in Paris to tackle the city’s estimatedsix million rats. The capital’s 2017 anti-rat plan funneled $1.8 million of its funds into a range of anti-rodent policies, such as the installation of airtight trash bins and the large-scale use of rat poison at thousands of sites across the city.

The rat problem is thought to have beenexacerbated by recent pension-reform protestsin Paris, which saw refuse go uncollected on city streets for weeks.

And with Paris’ rat population stilloutnumbering its human counterparts by a ratio of around 3:1, new measures are being considered – with Souyris saying the committee will establish “the most efficient”way for Parisians and rats to coexist that are “not unbearable” for people who live in the city.

Critics, though, say the plan amounts to simply throwing in the towel on the rodent issue. “Anne Hidalgo’s team never disappoints,”tweeted politician Geoffroy Boulard, who has frequently highlighted the city’s “proliferation of rats.” He added that “Paris deserves better.”

Someanimal rights groups are more welcoming of new plans. Previous control methods were “ineffective and cruel,” Paris Animal Zoopolis said. “New methods [are] essential.”

Paris has long had a tempestuous relationship with vermin. Rats were largely responsible for the spread of the bubonic plague, which killed half of the city’s population in the 14th century. However, the animals also helped citizens stave off starvation during the 1870-71 Siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian war.

Paris is not alone in attempting to devise new methods of addressing age-old problems like rat infestations. New York appointed its first so-called ‘rat czar’ in April to deal with its own rodent problems, while the French city of Toulouse has employed the use of ferrets to help bring the rat population under control.

(It’s pretty obvious the gov is punishing the protesters)

https://www.rt.com/news/577913-france-rats-anne-hidalgo/